Almighty

by Edward Laroche

ALMIGHTY is the story of a girl abducted by a motorcycle gang and the bounty hunter, 'Jane of all trades' sent to find her and bring her home.

A one hundred and thirty plus page post apocalyptic graphic novel

Think Mad Max meets my knife sliding in between your ribs.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

140 pages, trade paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

EDWARD LAROCHE, GRAPHIC NOVELIST / STORYBOARD ARTIST BASED IN THE US AND CZECH REPUBLIC WORKS PRIMARILY IN ANIMATION, FILM AND TV ADVERTISING WITH A DIVERSE ROSTER OF CLIENTS THAT INCLUDES 20TH CENTURY FOX, SONY, WARNER BROS, AND MARVEL STUDIOS.
ALSO VARIOUS COMMERCIAL BRANDS INCLUDING NASDAQ, SQUARESPACE, NIKE, UNDER ARMOR AND TRIPLE-A GAME STUDIOS: SQUARE ENIX, ELECTRONIC ARTS, RIOT GAMES, LUCAS ARTS.
LAROCHE HAS GUEST LECTURED AT ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN IN PASADENA AND THE PRAGUE SCHOOL OF CREATIVE COMMUNICATION.

Reviews

[Dillon Braeges · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. Well.

Okay, full disclosure, I read this as single issues released by Image in 2023, not the original self published graphic novel, or the collected edition due for release later this year (as of this review). As far as I can tell (theres a surprising lack of information out there about this book) the main difference is that the version I read had color, and of course the version I read was serialized.

I genuinely considered dropping this book from my pull list. I have a rule that if a series doesn't grab me by issue three, I'm done. However, this was only five issues, so I figured I would ride it out. I kinda wish I didn't.

I don't necessarily want to call this story bad. I can see someone really loving it. But when a story actively compares itself to Mad Max, you set a high bar and you damn well better make it. And Almighty doesn't.

A lot of the world feels needlessly edgy. The main villains are a gang of rapist bikers with not a whole lot else going on. We don't need a story of female victimhood in 2023, you know? At least the Toe Cutter and his gang in the first Mad Max, another group of rapist bikers, were bizarre and charismatic enough to be interesting. These guys are just... dull.

Fale, the Max stand in for our purposes, is on the verge of being interesting. We get the barest hints of her past as in the toxic wastes and as a former gang member. But anything we learn is either too vague or comes too late to have any real effect on the reader. And her personality doesn't really go beyond "stoic and violent". Which wouldn't be an issue if we knew more about her. Alas.

If you're a die hard fan of post-apocalypse stories, give it a shot. It's nothing groundbreaking or memorable, but I think a completionist could get a good time out of it. Anyone else though? Absolutely no reason to pick this up.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good post-apocalyptic comic book series.

Fale is sent to rescue a missing girl, Del, and has to fight her way past all sorts of nasty folk and creatures. Basically this is a violent series, all death and mayhem, and not much else. The artwork is not always clear especially regarding faces. It’s not really my kind of series. I prefer something more substantial and with clearer artwork. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Niche · Rating 1 out of 5]

A medic captured by a post-apocalyptic gang gets rescued by a mutant mercenary. They fight gangs, militia/cops, and zombies. My interest petered out as it went. I found it kind of dull and there was a random makeout scene thrown in so one star it is.

[JaredIsCool · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Robert Cone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun post-apocalyptic three-issue mini-series. Bot a ton of depth, but not unenjoyable

[Joshua Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A banger of a mini series. Wish this would get picked up for an ongoing story, the world Laroche built was fantastic

[Adrian Bloxham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ace

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this on a whim last week at the Meltdown Comics shoppe. The author, Ed Laroche, was dropping off copies there to sell on consignment, and the guy behind the counter was talking it up to some giant man in front of me, who was apparently buying 2 of every comic in the store that day. "totally DIY self-published, man! just like [suchandsuch now-famous, many-times reprinted comic] was! remember that when it first came out? just little black and white copies, man..." and so on. So then it was my turn at the register, and I felt an obligation - part collector (first edition, self-published version of something that will hopefully be put out by Dark Horse, etc), and part self-styled, low-rent supporter of the arts. The binding/printing looked completely professional. It had a UPC/ISBN on the back. It was 10 bucks. the price of about 3 comics. So I flipped through it, found it to be action-based (not nerd-comic, "my girlfriend left me for another girl, who is also my ethics professor, and the bass player in a super-cool punk band"-based. Maybe I don't support the arts) and decided to buy it.

I got into one of the geekiest discussions of my life while standing there, about comics publishing and the future of the medium in the digital age/snobby comic shop owners/"these kids today," and other fun things. I recommended some assorted Warren Ellis comics to young Ed, who said he's been trying to get into him ("weeee!" my brain said), then left.

I read it in a couple of short sittings, and it was pretty cool, I must say. For a first work, it's very ambitious (6 chapters; it ends on a cliffhanger, and says "this story continues in [name of upcoming book]"). It is reminiscent of some combination of Sin City & Aeon Flux (post-apocalyptic settings, walled cities, mysterious characters, all minus a certain amount of weirdness), and has pretty strong characters, and decent dialogue. The art is cool, and very ink-heavy, which I like, but it can be a little tough to follow at points. Either way, a very satisfying quick read and something I have to give 4 stars to, simply for the ambition alone. I would definitely read the next one, and I am amazed that publishers saw this and turned it away, let alone comic shops.

That said, I have managed to find myself in at least 2 other independent book/comic shoppes in the last week, and have seen it carried, and somewhat featured (faced out on its shelf) in each (House of Secrets & Skylight Books), which is really great to see. This flies in the face of the conversation I was having with Eric at that UCLA/LA Times Festival of Books, saying that everything good gets published (the reason why I wasn't interested in buying this 50 year-old man's self-pub'd techno-thriller called something like "www.murder.dead!"). Maybe this'll be a further blog topic. i clearly stopped reviewing "Almighty" long ago. Go read it!! $10.

[Noah Soudrette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb indie graphic novel. Let me get the only bad bit out of the way first. There are times where the art gets a little too busy and messy and you have a hard time telling what's happening. This is mostly relegated to action scenes in the last half of the book. That aside (it's not really that bad or distracting), this is a super fun, post-apocalypse book, with a kick ass main character. There's also some depth here, and some themes about the foolishness of believing in a higher power, but the importance and significance of believing in other people. Also, there's a little lesbian action (not graphic at all), which is never a bad thing. This is also a true, self published indie title and only available at select stores on the west coast, or at the website http://almightygraphicnovel.com/

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the most three-star book that ever three stared. I had a slight understanding of the plot throughout the book. I like a black-and-white style, but the action scenes made it hard to see what was going on with no coloration. One of the main characters (I don't even remember their name) has strange eyes which is a significant part of their characterization but I didn't even notice until it was talked about between the two. There's a militia but you have no idea why there's a militia. There was an "incident that kick-started the apocalypse. Do we know what that is? No. My thoughts reading this book are "what?" and "okay I guess."
I wanted to love this book but don't even like it.

[Wess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since I have an affinity for distopian fiction I really wanted to like this book but it just had too many problems. The cast of characters and the setting were both severely underdeveloped since the story never paused for any sort of exposition. I wasn't really left with anything after finishing the book. The whole thing just felt like the climax of The Road Warrior isolated without any sort of context.

The art was okay, but it more or less came off as undeveloped Paul Pope worship.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was ready for the sequel before i finished it.